The Bottled-in-Bond Finale: A Champion, A Challenger, and An Unexpected Twist!

Well, life sometimes gets in the way of whiskey, and our planned championship tasting was delayed by a day. But that small delay brought a moment of sudden clarity: the iconic Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond was missing from our field. To crown a champion without acknowledging this titan felt incomplete.

So, we’re improvising to make the finale even better.

Tonight, the original four finalists will face off in their predetermined semifinal matchups, and they’ll be joined by our legendary challenger in one massive five-way blind tasting. Here’s how it will work:

The Semifinals: We’ll use the blind scores to determine the winners of our two Final Four matchups:
Semifinal #1: Old Forester 1897 (#1) vs. Early Times Bottled-in-Bond (#5)
Semifinal #2: Jack Daniel’s Bonded (#7) vs. Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond (#6)
The Championship: The two winners will immediately advance to a head-to-head, category-by-category taste-off to crown our champion.
The Bonus Round: After the champion is revealed, we’ll see how they stack up against the highest-scoring bourbon of the night, Heaven Hill.

It’s an unexpected detour, but it promises an unforgettable conclusion. Let’s get to the tasting.

The Final Five: The Tasting

Glencairn #1

Color: Mid-amber.
Nose: Peanuts, caramel, and vanilla.
Palate: Baking spice, peanuts, caramel, and brown sugar.
Mouthfeel: Modest.
Finish: Spice, peanut, and brown sugar finish lingers.
Score: 79

Glencairn #2

Color: Copper.
Nose: Bananas, brown sugar, caramel, and vanilla.
Palate: Baking spice, bananas, caramel, brown sugar, and vanilla.
Mouthfeel: Soft.
Finish: Brown sugar, baking spice finish.
Score: 81

Glencairn #3

Color: Copper.
Nose: Tree fruit, vanilla custard, and brown sugar.
Palate: Cinnamon jumps up and leads brown sugar, bananas, and caramel.
Mouthfeel: Creamy.
Finish: Lingering brown sugar and cinnamon finish.
Score: 80

Glencairn #4

Color: Light copper.
Nose: Classic caramel, vanilla, and hints of oak.
Palate: Baking spice leads, followed by buttery caramel and a balance of oak.
Mouthfeel: Creamy.
Finish: Finish isn’t amazing, but it’s still satisfying with notes of butterscotch and nutmeg.
Score: 82

Glencairn #5

Color: Solid copper.
Nose: Brown sugar, caramel, light red fruit, and vanilla.
Palate: Cinnamon and brown sugar jump out quickly, followed by caramel and bananas.
Mouthfeel: Silky.
Finish: Cinnamon bomb finish with accents of brown sugar.
Score: 81

The Unveiling & Semifinal Results

Here is how the blind tasting shook out, with the scores applied to our semifinal matchups:

Glencairn #1: Early Times Bottled-in-Bond (79)
Glencairn #2: Jack Daniel’s Bonded (81)
Glencairn #3: Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond (80)
Glencairn #4: Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond (82)
Glencairn #5: Old Forester 1897 (81)

Semifinal #1 Result:
Old Forester 1897 (81) defeats Early Times Bottled-in-Bond (79)

Semifinal #2 Result:
Jack Daniel’s Bonded (81) defeats Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond (80)

This sets up our Championship Match: a battle of the Brown-Forman mash bills!

The Championship: Old Forester 1897 vs. Jack Daniel’s Bonded

Color: Jack Daniel’s is nicely amber, but Old Forester is a rich copper. Advantage: Old Forester 1897.
Aroma: Both have banana, brown sugar and caramel, but Jack Daniel’s is deeper and richer. Advantage: Jack Daniel’s Bonded.
Flavor: Both are rich and lovely, but Jack Daniel’s is “smoother” and more enjoyable with less ethanol. Advantage: Jack Daniel’s Bonded.
Complexity: Such similarity in flavor profiles, but the balance in Jack Daniel’s lends toward a better complexity. Advantage: Jack Daniel’s Bonded.
Mouthfeel: Toss-up. Both are a bit creamy, so it’s impossible to decide. Advantage: Even.
Finish: Such a slight edge; Old Forester just lingers forever. Advantage: Old Forester 1897.

Result: With the categories split 3-2 with one tie, Jack Daniel’s takes the edge with wins in the crucial aroma, flavor, and complexity categories.

The Winner of the Bottled-in-Bond Challenge is Jack Daniel’s Bonded!

Bonus Round: The Champion vs. The Legend

But the night wasn’t over. How does our newly crowned champion stack up against the highest-scoring bourbon of the night, the legendary Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond?

Color: Jack Daniel’s is nicely amber, but Heaven Hill’s light copper is bright and inviting. Advantage: Heaven Hill.
Aroma: No difference in the result of this category. Jack Daniel’s is deeper and richer. Advantage: Jack Daniel’s Bonded.
Flavor: Jack Daniel’s is delicious, but Heaven Hill has a rich, buttery flavor that takes the edge. Advantage: Heaven Hill.
Complexity: There’s a lot going on in both drams, but Heaven Hill has a bit more complexity to make it interesting. Advantage: Heaven Hill.
Mouthfeel: It’s so close, but Jack Daniel’s has an ever-so-slight better mouthfeel. Advantage: Jack Daniel’s Bonded.
Finish: I expected Heaven Hill to have the better finish, but it fades a bit more quickly than anticipated. Jack Daniel’s lingers a bit longer and more satisfyingly. Advantage: Jack Daniel’s Bonded.

Result: Both drams take three categories! It’s a dead heat. The tie-breaker is in the flavor, and Heaven Hill has the edge there.

Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond wins the taste-off!

Concluding Thoughts

What a ride this Bottled-in-Bond challenge has been. A huge congratulations to Jack Daniel’s Bonded for fighting its way from the play-in round all the way to a well-deserved championship. It consistently delivered that rich, banana-and-caramel profile that stands out in a crowd.

And yet, in the final taste-off, the legendary Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond proved why it’s a benchmark. Its buttery, complex character was enough to win a 3-3 tie, showing that even on its best day, a champion can be challenged by a legend.

This experiment highlights the beauty of the Bottled-in-Bond designation. It provides a standard of quality that ensures you’re getting an honest, flavorful whiskey at a fair price. While it’s clear my palate enjoys that Brown-Forman profile, every bottle in this challenge brought something special to the table. In the end, there was one big winner here – me! And that’s the best part of any tasting.

Until the next challenge, cheers!